General Discussion

The Trump administration has been telling Americans that fentanyl is so widespread, it’s a “weapon of mass destruction.“ But according to the Washington Post’s Mexico City bureau chief Samantha Schmidt, fentanyl isn’t the drug the administration should be paying attention to — it’s cocaine.

Globally, supply and demand for the drug are surging, according to Schmidt. And that’s happening amid a changed cocaine landscape, one that’s evolved from the kingpin-run trade of the ’80s. The drug might conjure images of Pablo Escobar and Al Pacino’s Scarface, but today’s reality is less the big bad coke boss and more like a proliferation of smaller outfits trafficking in cocaine.

As Schmidt told Today, Explained cohost Jonquilyn Hill, “It is a much more globalized business than before, and it works in an entirely new way that makes it much more difficult to combat.”